Want a commissioner that’s cognizant of local, global issues

Thanks to Rick Hannold for responding to my somewhat grim portrayal of his environmental record in light of Earth Day this month. Any response sure beats the absence of discussion or recognition of these important issues.

Climate Change. Rick asserts that 1,350 studies climate denial studies have been published denying man caused climate change — your source? One can certainly scour the internet and find some website to support a desired conclusion; I’d prefer to go with the mainstream.

NASA, for example, concludes, “Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities.’ Most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position” — see climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus for a representative list.

I’d offer that the debate on climate change is anything but a 50/50 proposition within the scientific community if you accept it’s demand for theory based on hard data that can be peer reviewed. Hard data shows that the ppm of co2 in the atmosphere varied from 150 to 300 over a 600,000 year span until the industrial revolution when it started a persistent climb to our current level of 408. Hard data has demonstrated that co2 in the atmosphere does indeed trap heat and the temperature of the earth is climbing in lock step with co2 concentrations. Rick likes prefers to go with history. Well, 600,000 years of scientific c02 concentration sounds a lot like history to me.

Some education always helps — hence, I cordially invite you, and county staff, to a facts-based public presentation by two renowned UW scientists with over 50 years of experience studying climate data and effects on our planet at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, in Freeland.

GMA. Despite state mandates, we all struggled to get a growth plan into Island County 20 years ago for spurious reasons and a costly mistake —$3 million — was made back then in hiring a certain attorney to fashion a contestable comp plan. Sorry for the deja vu, but improved relations with our elected county prosecutor to accomplish our GMA legal work in house could save a lot those tax dollars you toute.

Conservation Futures. If one supports a popular and efficient program, you don’t reduce its current budget allocation in current dollars as Rick has consistently done. Would you ever have initiated such a program or accept data that says it makes fiscal sense to set aside open space — i.e. save tax dollars, as opposed to residential development.

Our Navy base. Around election time, some factions like to paint their political opponents as Navy Base deniers, for obvious purposes. Your opponent, Janet St. Clair, has never advocated adversity to the base as you suggest. Hopefully she would, however, engage in meaningful discussion about various neighborly issues like schools, noise and water. Have you?

The bottom line is, I’d like to see a District 3 commissioner that’s cognizant of local and global issues that affect Island County and who can promote and support proactive, fact-based initiatives in response, as opposed to slowly and begrudgingly learning on the job, at our expense. I’ll certainly support such fearless leaders to take us into the future.